BuffOrange

ROFL, clipped? Admittadly I haven't paused it on Tivo 50 times but the half dozen replays they showed during the game made it pretty clear to observers more impartial than me that it was a no-contact dive. I'm not going to pretend to know much about the politics of Italian soccer, but I'm pretty sure there aren't many first world countries more racist than France.

I don't really understand these sentiments. They scored their only goal on a dive. Italy controlled the first half and had a goal negated on an offsides, which was probably the right call, but still somewhat arbitrary as it didn't have much to do with the play (the other guy headed it in). France obviously controlled the 2nd half and OT. If it were a football game, they probably would've had 60 more yards of total offense, but it's hard to say they "deserved" to win more than France IMO. I agree the officiating was awful - though it was much better in the quarter/semi's than it was in the 1st round.

I wonder if the trashtalking was done in Italian, French, or German?

Dwight Freeney was considered a reach too. So was Quincy Carter. So yeah, some reaches succeed and some don't, just like guys who aren't considered reaches. I like Kiper but I don't care much what he considers a reach. If Modrak thought Whitner was the best DB in the draft, who am I to argue? Still, I bet a lot of you Whitner guys will be hard-pressed to avoid criticizing the draft when whoever our QB is gets sacked 10+ times in the first two games. I know there wasn't much value at the OL position when we picked, but it seems like we've been saying that for years now. At some point you have to find a way to improve at that position, whether it be trading down, signing FA's who don't suck, whatever.

Yes, I remember that game well. Horrible call on the grounding. I've seen QB's toss the ball thru the goalposts once per game for the last 10 years and that was the only time I've seen a penalty called. I don't know what Buffalo ever did to piss of Terrell Buckley - the guy was a horrible player against every other team.

I didn't say he was good I said he wasn't overrated. I remember the announcers in the Houston game raving about Chris Kelsay before and during the game. If it's possible to suck and be overrated at the same time, he would be a better example than Posey IMO.

Yes

I just took a peak at the schedule. You might be right - 8-8 isn't an impossibility. It is at the top of the "everything has to go right" scale though. They have to win almost 100% of their "coinflip" games - @Detroit, @Houston, Minnesota, GB, etc. I'm a little surprised that the O/U is 6.5. The only games we'd be favored in right now IMO are the Titans, Jets, and Packers at home. Don't think we can be a road favorite vs. anyone. FWIW I do think we'll win more than 3; games like Jax & Miami at home are winnable.

You know, I was a rose-colored glasses guy in 2000-2003. How could I not be? I grew up during the Super Bowl years in Jr. High. One bad year in '94 everyone wrote them off, '95 they proved everyone wrong winning the division. '96 in the playoffs. Another hiatus in '97, an 0-3 start in '98, back in the playoffs again, and again the year after that. They were the ultimate "F*&^ you media" disrespected team. Since then, the franchise has just been a disaster. I think the 2003 collapse scarred me for life after we looked like world-beaters the first two weeks. Three years after that? I have no idea how these rosey guys do it, but I admire the blind optimism I guess. Yeah, I'd say a DE, another DT, WR, 2 OLmen away from being a contender. So that's 5 good players not including the QB, which is obviously a huge "if".

I think this sums it up pretty well.

Cue Fez entrance music... That's a little harsh. He had a decent year. A good year by his standards, which is a pretty average year by most standards. The Redskin game was over before it started to be fair. Obviously, he made the OL look worse than it was as he always does. I hate the media and Dallas as well. But Parcells is just that damn good. I mean, it was a 5-11 team for 3 years in a row before he got there. Suddenly they go 10-6 with Quincy Carter and Troy Hambrick leading the way in '03...voila, Dallas fans get ridiculous expectations for '04, fail to realize how much they overachieved the previous year, and they blame Tuna for not making the playoffs the last two years even though they've gotten much better during his tenure and the division has improved immeasurably.

Agreed, I've never heard anyone in the national media mention Posey ever. Most people don't even know his first name and quite frankly I don't either. Is it James or Jeff? I think it's Jeff, but I always forget.

Good article. Otto Graham definitely gets overlooked in regards to all-time greats.

I'm the president of the Frutie-hating fan club. But I'm pretty sure we scored the go-ahead TD on the next-to-last possession and never had a chance to run out the clock. That game itself wasn't as annoying as much as the fact that it cost us a perfect 4-0 playoff record vs. the Dolfags, since the wildcard game that year could've/should've been in Buffalo. Also, that same year we blew a huge lead vs. the 4-12 Tony Banks led Rams in the Week 3 home opener. Interestingly, 2 of the Rams other 3 wins that year came against the Jets & Pats - both playoff teams; although NE didn't deserve to be in the playoffs because of the aforementioned game. Yeah, Pete Carrol was/is a deuchebag.

Even when he became a Bill he never admitted those were bogus calls

I don't know abut symbolizing the turnaround. I have great memories of '95; winning the division & destroying Miami in the first round.

Agree completely. The fact that we were up 21-0 was what surprised me more than anything. I mean in the first game at home we barely held on to win despite 17 penalties and 6 turnovers - I thought we'd get slaughtered down there.

No pretty sure we were trailing 20-17 and Travis scored the go-ahead TD.

Yeah I was at that game! At the time I wasn't even that pissed because it prevented Miami from winning the division. If I had known that B.S. call would springboard NE into a 1st round bye and another subsequent B.S. call in the playoffs which would springboard the flukiest SB win ever which would springboard a dynasty.....I would've been much more pissed On the plus side, Nate Clements did take Tom Brady's head off which was worth the price of admission.

Heh, RJ played great that game too. Our then stellar Special Teams set up the game winner by allowing a huge kickoff return if i recall.

Yeah, Izelle Reese of all people picked off a pass and returned it to their 1 on the possession after the Moulds fumble....and of course we couldn't punch it in. I remember the TKO hit and also yelling at the TV: "Stop celebrating!". McGahee actually ran pretty well against their tough run defense towards the end and it looked as if we'd run out the clock until some holding penalty which I've still never seen the replay of. Anyway, I'd probably rank that game #2 behind 1998's "Just give it to em" in Foxboro. My college dorm room was not a pretty site after that game. Thank God I'm too young for the 70's. I would like to hear details from the older folks on how the Bills got jobbed in a couple of the Miami games. I guess the Pittsburgh game didn't bother me as much as others. I mean, beat a practice squad team at home for crying out loud or you don't deserve playoffs.

I can't think of a single QB in the NFC I'd rather have than McNabb. Not one. Only Brees, Delhomme, and maybe Hasselbeck even come close. And Bulger - he's underrated.

I believe he won it twice in both their SB years (Faulk won it in between). Faulk was clearly the best player on the team. Bruce & Pace were great players; there is no way they were more valuable to that team than Warner. Just watch some of those games - I don't care how good his supporting cast was - he could take a hit and deliver 35 yards downfield with sick accuracy. You can't just throw any QB into that system. He was Marinoesque for those few years.

Not even close

Umm, no. The Chargers OL and passing game was a joke in 2003 and the guy still averaged 5+ yards/carry. He played all of 2004 with a groin injury and still scored every game. He was pretty good last year. OP - Big Ben played very well in 3 road playoff games; that's good enough for me. You're right that he had a poor Super Bowl though.